NESQLUG News

A ea a A

O E EEE wee

NESQLUG NEWS
os The Journal of Record of
New England Sinclair QL User Group
Vol I, No 6
“A Beacon to Guide the Wander ing Sojourner Home from the Abyss of Confusion”

Om om ot oa om Om

Cw w a w 0 eT Tew www y aw Pe 00 0 00 On 0 ap 0 20 0 0 00 0 00 00 0 20 09 2 2 2 OW 2 ee ee 2 w Oe A DOs Oe E 0 0 Oe Sen Dn Meo Op OO ne

EDITOR'S NOTES

As we conclude the first full year
of operation our membership has
grown to nearly 40 and includes
trans-Atlantic members. We are also
now a sub-Group of Quanta, the
first in North America.

Already we have learned that
QUANTA members have contacted us
to see if they can join us on visits
to this continent.

That's the good news. The bad is
that this appears to be the first
year that there has not been a
Sinclair fest on the continent. And
this is sad. because as interest
declines, the applications for the QL
have increased - hard disk drives.
68020 chip upgrades and controller
boards are coming on stream. The
computer just won't roll over and
die, like an MS-DOS machine should!

REMINDER: Your address label
reminds you that membership dues
for the coming year are due. Send
them to Sherm Waterman, below.
Checks payable to NESQLUG.

Finally, those of you who may have
been too excited about the "Interna-
tional Recognition for EMSoft"
article last issue are reminded that
the date for accepting was given as
the first Monday in April, which
this year was the first.

The NESQLUG NEWS is the Journal
of the New England Sinclair QL User
Group. It is published bi-monthly.

Annual membership is $10.00 (stu-
dents $5.00) in North America. The
rest of the world - $15.00 air mail.

We meet monthly on the first Sat-
urday of odd-numbered months and
the first Sunday of even numbered
months. If that's a holiday weekend,
we meet the following weekend.

NEXT MEETINGS

NESQLUG meets from 11:00am to
4:00pm. Saturday, May > at the
home of Al & Dorothy Boehm, 33
Selfridge Road, Bedford, MA. Call
(617) 275-1097 for directions. Come
9:00 to 10:00 for coffee and set up.

In June, it meets from 1:00pm. to
4:00pm, Sunday, June 9, at Al
Boehm's house.

Note: the July meeting will be Sat-
urday, the 13th, because of the 4th
of July holiday weekend.

xxx
Our exchange policy is simple: we-
send-you-ours-if-you-send-us-yours
(WSYOIYSUY) and you have
something to say about the QL.

Please forward exchange issues to
Frederick Romer, 31 Fowler St.,
Jamestown, RI 02835.

Unless copywritten by the author,
articles/listings are in the public
domain. Attribution is requested.

DIRECTORY phone
Director A! Boehm, 33 Selfridge Re, Bedford, MA 21739 (617) 275-1097
Treasurer Sherm Waterman, 42 Zileer St, Yarmouth Port, MA 02673 (398) 362-5322
Membership Se' xy PE

-ibrar ian Ed Kingsley, 16 Migaland Ave, Saugus, MA C1996 (617) 233-3671
Editor Pezer Hale, 195 Central Ave, Chelsea, MA 02159 (6:7) 889-0830

Newsletter LUlascr

NESQLUG NEWS

Fred Romer, 3° Fowler St, ¿amestown, R! 02935

(45°) 423-2688

-1- Mav/June 1991

NEW EN:
SINCLAI
SUMMAR
Member:

Michael
P.O.” x
Ber , |
(603) 46

Al BOEH
33 Selfr
Bedford
617)275

William :
RR 3, Be
Cornish.
(603) 67

Robert í
69 Jeffe
Massape
(516)541

Alan J.
3843 Mt.
San Die;
(619) 57

Michael

1691 Car
Cambrid
(617) 87

Loi El
28465 A’
Castaic,

(W)

John MI
35 Mayf.
Westwoo

(617) 32

Kevin O'
P.O. Box
Meriden,
(603) 46:

Frederic
31 Fowle
Jamesto:
(401) 42

Sherman
40 Eilee;
Yarmout
(508) 36.

Ernest Y
P.O. Box

Dover, Y
508” *5-

ppp ppp E Smoon SNTL o.
T66T Bung /raep

Z0T09 71 ‘ poommearyg

"ITO aprsyaeg €T9
TOIT py “1980mg qog y

06 SMAN SAWIL-ALIN MA o)

OL

¡¿ANTL IWMAN—- AAN
AIH JAJANAN

TASSI LSV

ILYN SSVID LSuYUIa

YITZO WH ʻ‘uogsog

eg C9LB xog “0d Z
CNN ANOADO suasn
poy IO UAILVIONIS
owed Gf ANV'IONA MAN
Yo a .
m > i l PA Ú -w
ooa . eoonw 399» 554 nicas E o S273
e JITA UTRP Y. eu 22> LITE aes aL ger te & ER BA Ss
a 24d idea #gEGSA giga" gos bela yog 25745 gags 355
E sae" 5 PS ASO uy ga agen zoug. Sn ba as
é qa Hal sacra Stygg El dede pR . DA E a Mm
bet a, | Aa u 0.0 o A a

used. He
2 end of a

ed by two
3 no need
AEN

ission that
from disk/
SE pay

toreduced.
to 78% so
by side on

8.5" x 11”
proportion
5" x 8,5"
2 11" fits
vide.

if you can

format it
ther:
x 10" per

vr as two
room for

< 10".

NLQ or LQ.
fonders in
there are
copy is in
bbon.

missions to
; I know
COMPUTER
es 1:1.)

chest.

1990
Swenson
that kept
service was
It turned
sers would
ale and put
on the top
ts. When it
is-stuff and

.vidence.
t out until
watch him
ied.

CONTENTS
Editor’ Notes
Next Meeting
Meeting Minutes
From Out of the Ashes Rises
Directions from the Director
QL Genealogist (Review)
NESQLIBrary Update
More on IFE
Remote Control by the QL
Zip Code Printer Automation
Networking with QL
Writing an Article
Membership

ANNOUNCEMENT!

MEMBERSHIP
RENEWAL TIME

200230000 a Y NN — me

pi

Your membership expires with this
issue. Please renew now so you
won't miss out.

Regular membership in North
America is $10.00 per year (which
runs from July to June.

Students pay $5.00 and overseas
(AIRMAIL) is $15.00.

Send check payable to NESQLUG to:
Sherm Waterman, 40 Eileen Street,
Yarmouth Port, MA 02675.

Membership entitles you to all the
benefits of belonging to NESQLUG,
including receiving the bi-monthly
newsletter and gaining access to the
NESQLUG LIBrary.

[Volume I of NESQLUG News is avail-
able for $6.00.]

MEETING MINUTES
by Mike Jonas

The New England QL Sinclair Group
met at the home of Al and Dorothy
Boehm on March 2, 1991.

& Boehm demonstrated a world map
graphics database from the National
Center for Atmospheric Research
(NCAR) adapted for the QL. The
Program uses run length encoded
data to draw a map of the world or
any specified range of latitude or
longitude. The data permits resolu-
tion to 10 nautical miles.

: (Cont. page 3)

NESQLUG NEWS -2-

- ba

FROM OUT OF. THE,
ASHES RISES T/SNUG
by a Special Correspondent

FLASH! We have just learned
that Don Lambert from Indiana and
Bob Swoger from Chicago have
taken the bit in the teeth and
begun publishing what SNUG hasn't.

We have seen the first issue of, (sit
back now!) ZXir QLive Alive, an
expected quarterly, supporting all
of Clive Sinclair's computers, with
news and programs.

It is very smart looking and does
not appear to compete with UPDATE.

Only Don and Bob have signed on
so far and there are many jobs still
to fill, but it has a BBS, courtesy of
MOTOROLA, where Bob works.

To gain access dial (708) 576-7072.
At the > prompt, type MOTOROLA,
then GUEST.

The commands are simple: DIR,
TYPE, MAIL, UPLOAD filename.type,
and DOWNLOAD filename.type.

To date paid membership is zero.
Dues are $12.00 for individuals,
$15.00 for groups.

Submissions and membership to:

DON LAMBERT
ZXir QLive Alive Newsletter
1301 Kiblinger Place
AUBURN, IN 46706

Ph (219) 925-1372
or UPLOAD to the BBS (see above).

DIRECTIONS FROM
THE DIRECTOR
by Al Boehm

What's your problem? I mean your
latest QL enigma. We all run into
them - your program crashes, you
wonder "If I only had a program to
do so and so”, or your printer
won't print, etc.

Probably, someone else has run into
(Cont. page 3)

May/June 1991

DIRECTIONS Cont from p. 2
the same problem and found a
solution. That's what NESQLUG is all
about. Within the group there is a
lot of experience. When your QL has
you stumped, call one of your fellow
members. If they don't know the
answer, they may know someone who
does.

The June special meeting will be on
music on the QL. We will review
some of the hardware and programs
that play music. Also we hope to
design some programs that meet
some of our special music needs.

The meeting will be on Sunday,
June 9th at my (Al Boehm) house
from 1 to 5 in the afternoon.

MEETING MINUTES Cont from p. 2

Concurrently, Al demonstrated the
use of G_LOAD and G_SAVE,
extensions to rapidly swap graphic
images already loaded in memory.

Will Horton demonstrated CAT, a new
extension he developed to provide a
directory across the screen, ralher
than vertically as with DIR.

As with DIR, CAT requires a drive
as a parameter a drive, but subse-
quently it can be used without a
drive reference to access the last
referenced device. If CAT fipl_ is
called, a subsequent CAT reads the
directory on flp1_. Further, CAT 2
will read a directory on flp2_,
unless a different kind of device

(e.g. ram) has been called
immediately prior.

Will also demonstrated a XKEYPIP
extension (KEYTONE ?) to generate a
distinct tone for each key pressed,
with a different octave when a
capital is pressed. Possibly useful
for blind touch typists!

Sherm Waterman announced that the
treasury had $197.23 in the account
and that three new members had
joined in the previous two months.

As memberships are up for renewal

NESQLUG NEWS -3-

in July, Peter Hale proposed a rate
of $5.00 for students and $15.00 for
overseas members to cover the cost
of airmail. All dues should be sent
to Shere (See announcement on
page 2. Ed)

Copies of the NESQLUG library disks
must be ordered from Ed Kingsly.
If ordered by mail, a copying and
shipping charge of $1.00/per disk is
required if you supply a disk or
$1.50/disk without.

An advertising policy was set as
$6.00 per page or part thereof,
except that 1/4 page will be free to
vendors supplying their own copy.

Chris Montgomery, a visitor and
student from MIT, described a Data
Acquisition and Control Board he is
developing for laboratory use at
MIT (see article. Ed).

Mike Jonas showed off his fabulous,
marvelous, wonderful SPEED and
TUNE keywords to generate musical
notes with alpha-numeric characters.

An allocation of up to $50.00 was
approved for the purchase of IFE
library software that was not
currently in hand.

The April Special Interest meeting
was also held at Al Boehm's. Will
Horton gave an introduction to
Assembly Language Programming.
He was very patient in repeating in
numerous ways the essentials. Only
seven persons attended, including
Judy Ceprano, Will's lovely fiance
and her much appreciated cupcakes,
but the group was very attentive,
and each agreed that he made majer
conceptual leaps in understanding
how and why assembly code is
written.

Respectfully submitted, Mike Jonas,
Secretary pro tem

May/June 1991

QL-2 9 a!
L-1

Na
open #3.
ana on n!
open #3,

Ano
The comm
on tryin
aborted

Ano

You
placed o
N1_FLP1._

You
machine
a.s. CC

A m
the circ

So
peripher
to
N1 SAGAS
entered
NFS LUISE
FI- LOAD
ger the
te
recont13
neither
DRIVER "
Print s
fhe
FAGE DE
network.
FSE

slow dou
giving 1

all
altnougr
should

n article

ost, you
“Nou can
~ about

In the
twork to

@ach of
on the

3 + the
Dianoux

vas born
y but it

man and
lew born
“ers and

>laceable
the UL

is “ to
machines
¡Ou don’t
¡e other.
each

‘SERVE *
command
all the

nd have
ives and
11 as on
-tridges
te your
at your

printer
xtension
rces of
machine
R s as
that in
looking
tipi_ *
dv2_ *.

2 are
e Qa 2
mmand *

c from

QL GENEALOGIST
Reviewed by Gary Norton

QL GENEALOGIST by Chris Boutal is
a program that allows the user to
prepare a family history.

It is one of the best looking and
operating programs that I have seen
for the QL or any other computer.
Although more than 100K bytes long,
it loads in only a few seconds.

In the Configure section there are
several choices for paper and ink
colors to allow for individual tastes.
Also, several variables and printer
settings can be altered to customize
the program to the user's needs.

The program is multi-menu driven.
When a selection is made on the
initial menu, a second menu appears
beside the first, and so on, until all
selections are chosen.

A menu feature that I especially like
is the option either to use cursor
keys and ENTERing or to simply
enter the first (or in some instances
the capitalized) letter.

Several types of reports can be
generated, output either to the
Screen or to a printer for a hard-
copy record and there is an Export
option so files be used in Archive.

An added feature is a demonstration
file of the British Royal Family from
William I, born in 1027, to the
present Queen Elizabeth II.

In comparing the ease of use, the
features offered, and the reports
provided, I do not think there is
another Genealogy program for any
computer that can out-perform the
QL GENEALOGIST.

I have compared it with Andy
Carmichael's RELATION program, at
least as much as I have been able
to get that one to work, as well as
a genealogy program for the IBM
computers. QL GENEALOGIST is a
hands down winner against the
Archive based RELATION, which is
very slow, limited in output and
much more confusing to use.

NESQLUG NEWS -4-

The IBM program, FAMILY TREE,
ETC., from Pinecone Software, is as
good as QL Genealogist in report
output, but with fewer report
options. Neither does it have the
type of Research section available in
the QL program. It also does not
have the Spelling option, to allow
for variations in spellings of
surnames. On the other hand, the
IBM program, when printing out the
family tree report, includes full date
for birth, marriage and death, as
well as the location of each.

THE MANUAL

As previously mentioned, gQL GENE-
ALOGIST is very user friendly. The
manual has a tutorial. If you use it
and follow what is happening, by
the time you complete the tutorial,
you are ready to begin.

The 35 page manual is well
structured, includes an index for
quick referencing, and with only a
few minor exceptions, is very
concise in its presentation.

The best part of the program is its
walk through of each phase of op-
eration with its multi-menu format.

Another excellent feature is the
ability to design report outputs. For
example, the user can have the
report ordered alphabetically or
chronologically. There is even a
cross-reference feature to see the
relationship between any two people
listed in the database and who their
closest common ancestors are.

While no program is 100% perfect,
this one comes close. The only
faults - and I'm nitpicking here -
are the following:

1. There is no gender recognition
in the program as is the case with
the RELATION program. An example
of this is the cross-reference mode.
If a person and his/her aunt are
selected, the response will be that
the aunt (Jane Smith) is the
Uncle/Aunt of the person being
cross-referenced. This is a minor
feature, but one that would help
clarity. (Cont page 11)

May/June 1991

NESQLIBrary Update
by Ed Kingsley

In the last newsletter, I made a plea
for the return of all programs taken
by members for keypunching,
whether or not they were done.

I then followed that up with
individual postcards (created by
Peter) as an additional reminder.

The time has come. I am closing
out Disk #2, of the NESQLIBrary at
the May meeting. If you have a
Program (or a _doc file) you would
like to contribute, please get it to
me by then (May 4th). Last call.
This is it. Now or never. Please
don't say I didn't ask.

Disk #1, is being reviewed for the
last time and THE FINAL VERSION
wil be available at the May meeting.

With the generous help of members,
I have been able to look through
many of the past issues of QL World
Magazine and select programs for
inclusion in the Library. Several
issues, however, have escaped me
and 1 believe that there may be
information in them critical to
debugging or enhancing some of the
programs from earlier issues.

If anyone has, and can loan me, or
provide information from any of the
following, I would be most grateful.

1986 Feb, April, August, Sept
1985 Jan, Feb, August, Nov
1984 Any and all

I would like to express my personal
thanks to Will Horton for his en-
thusiastic and enlightening seminar
on Assembly Language Programming,
on April Tth. His patience in
explaining the obvious for the nth
time succeeded in lighting a din,
but hopeful, glimmer of under-
standing at the end of MY dark
tunnel. Thanks, Will, I'm beholdin'
to you. Thanks, too, to Al and
Dorothy Boehm for their never
ending hospitality.

P.P.S. I am collecting a
"library" of sounds, noises, tunes,

NESQLUG NEWS - 5-

etc., that can be generated by the
QL's BEEP command or other key-
word extension.

If you have any to share, lease mai
on media, call me on the phione or
bring to the meeting.

The idea is to develop a demon-
stration program to access all of
them from a master menu.

ED note: This sounds like a very
useful project, if not for budding
Programmers within NESQLUG, most
useful to others who may get our
disk.

MORE ON INTER
GROUP FREEWARE
EXCHANGE
by Peter Hale

Franz Herrmann of the Intergroup
Freeware Exchange writes to correct
some typos in the March issue.

It's Intergroup, and we inadvertent-
ly speHed his name incorrectly.

Franz also writes that the Exchange
has grown te inelude the following
(in addition to NESQLUG).

CGH Services UK
Circulo Usarios QL y Z88 Spain
Club-Ware Italy
National Dutch QL-Users Club
(sin-QL-air) Netherlands
Norwegian All Sinclair Assn (NASA)
Scottish QL Users Group UK

Sinclair QL Users Club e.V. Germany

Svenska QL Gruppen Sweden
QITALY Italy
QUBBESoft P/D UK

Franz notes that Club-Ware and the
QITALY group have recently unified.

He also reports that with growth of
participation he expects the library
will double within twelve months.

Contact Franz Herrmann at:

Sinclair QL User Club e.V.
Foreign Contact Section
Talstrasse 21

D-W5460 Ockenfels
GERMANY

May/June 1991

REM
E

[At the ?
briefly di
Contro a
used by th
interview w

Previous
control t!
have no
Digital de
/Digital
was not
quality cc

Chris had
it wantir
construct
what he
Digital b«
version

introductc
Engineeri:
experimen
and as a

Each com;
ted and t
integr `e
and aag

As envisi
two com;
ribbon ca

Attached

be a fully
with a ca
port for a

At the ot
be the D:
Device.

The dev)
channels.
active at
pleng -
it were.

The chan:
to 20,000
figure wi
number o:
the 1 f
—

ted by the
her key-

s lease mai
—vhione or

a demon-
ess all of

ke a very
r budding
‘LUG, most
y get our

TER
WARE
E

Intergroup
to correct
ssue.

advertent-
:ctly.

Exchange
“sewing

UK
Spain
Italy
ub

therlands

(NASA)
UK
Germany
Sweden
Italy
UK

e and the
y unified.

growth of
we library
onths.

REMOTE CONTROL,
BY THE QL
by Peter Ilale

[At the March meeting Chris Montgomery
briefly discussed a Data Aquisition and
Control Board being developed for MIT to be
used by the QL. The following is from an
interview with Chis. Ed]

Previous efforts to respond to and
control the outside world with a QL
have not been successful. Prairie
Digital developed an A/D I/O (Analog
/Digital Input/Output) board that
was not particularly facile and had
quality control problems.

Chris had used the board and found
it wanting. He therefore began
constructing a board that would do
what he had expected the Prairie
Digital board to do. In its initial
version it will be used for an
introductory course in Electrical
Engineering to run and supervise
experiments, for robotics control
and as a digital oscilliscope.

Each component has been construc-
ted and tested. What remains is to
integrate the components in a unit
and design the printed circuits.

As envisioned the board will have
two components connected by a
ribbon cable.

Attached to the QL's Data Bus will
be a fully buffered memory decoder
with a cable. It will have a thru-
port for a disk controller.

At the other end of the cable will
be the Data Aquisition and Control
Device.

The device will have four (4)
channels. Although only one will be
active at a time, it will have multi-
plexing - artificial multi-tasking, as
it were.

The channels will be capable of up
to 20,000 samples per second! This
figure would be reduced by the
number of other demands placed on
the unit.

(Cont page 11)

NESQLUG NEWS -6-

ZIP CODE PRINTER
AUTOMATION
By Peter liale

The April, 1991, issue of The DATA
BUS from the Dayton Microcomputer
Association had a BASIC listing to
generate the Bar code at the bottom
of the envelope. This code is called
Post-Net code and is used by Post
Office optical scanners to automat-
ically direct mail.

The author, Gary Ganger, heads the
Timex SIG at the DMA, but the
listing was in GW-BASIC. Below, it
is converted to QL SuperBaSIC.

Naturally, this is useful only if you
can print to an envelope or a label
to stick on an envelope.

10 REMark PRINT POST-NET ZIPS

20 REMark BY GARY M. GANGER

30 REMark MODIFIED FOR THE QL BY
40 REMark PETER HALE, NESQLUG
50 REMark THIS PROGRAM CONVERTS
60 REMark A ZIP OR ZIP+4 CODE TO
70 REMark AUTOMATED ZIP/BARCODE

100 Post_net$="'" ; Y=0

110 INPUT "Enter the zipcode: ";Zips
120 FOR n=1 TO LEN(Zips)

130 IF Zip$(n)="-" : NEXT n

140 cod=Zip$(n) : post_net_code

150 END FOR n

160 X$=100-Y : cod=XS(LEN(XS))

170 post_net_code

180 Post_net$=Post_net$&"!"

190 PRINT Post_net$

200 :

210 DEFine PROCedure post_net_code
220 SELect ON cod

230 =1 : Post_netS=Post_net$%"...!!"

240 =2 : Post_net$=Post_net$4"..!.!"
250 =3 : Post_net$=Post_net$4"..!!."
260 =4 : Post_netS=Post_net$4"”.!..!"
270 =5: Post_nets=Post_net$4".!.!."
280 =G : Post_net$=Post_net$4".'!.."
290 =7 : Post_net$=Post_net$4"!...!"
300 =8 : Post_net$=Post_net$4"!..!."
310 =9 : Post_net$=Post_net$4"!.!..”
320 =0 : Post_net$=Post_net$4"!!..."

330 END SELect
340 Y=Y+cod
350 END DEFine post_net_code

Note: The ; is SHIFT + the \ key.

-

May/June 1991

NETWORKING with QL. i
The following is a translation by Louis Laferriere of an article
Publisheo in QL_LDOC Issue # 9, y
The QL Network does work tt1t
I saw it in OPERATION 111

You must be realistic, if your aL gives up the ghost, you
ar@ in deep trouble, unless it is a minor problem , wou can
Forget about having your QL repaired y because it is just about
iaPossible to get replacement Parts in this country.

Therefore, the only thing to do is to get a back-up QL. In the
meantime you can hook-up your two OL’s into a local network to
really surprise your friends.

Perore , this big splash , you must have TOOLKIT II in each of
the machines on the network. You can have up to 64 QL's on the
same circuit.

To delve a bit more on the subject of networking s; the
following is an adaptation of an article by Mr. J. t. Dianoux
CQLCF) e.g. from FRANCE, from aL DOC.

* The OL , like all other complicated beings , was born
Prematurely , Capable of accomplishing great things , but it
Cannot survive in the hostile world by itself.

Communication is the greatest gift for both man and
computer. Therefore the only thing missing for the new born
computer " OL ” to be able to communicate with his brothers and
sisters ıs " FSERVE *,

This neec can be satisfied by installing the irreplaceable
TOOLKIT II by TONY TEBBY . You will then discover that the (GL
can and will communicate with others at 9500 bauds.

All you need is a connecting cable " with RCA Plugs “ to
interconnect the two " NET" . If yOu have only two machines
each can be called net 1 by entering : NET 1 . However you don't
even have to do this , because each will be NET 1 to the other.
If you have more than two then it is imperative to number each
machine up to a maximum of 64,

Then you should enter on one or both machines " FSERVE "
this is the command to ” FILE SERVER * , this magical command
will allow the secomd machine to have access to all the
peripherals sf tne first machine.

You neve then given the the authorisation to come and have
eccess to your pocketbook, your microdrives your diskdrives and
also to print on your screen all kinds of messages as well as on
your serial or parallel PORT and on your microdrive cartridges
» wour disks as well as RAMDISKS but it also can delete your
valuable files. But the remote machine cannot format your
microdrives or other devices.

EXEMPLE : two OL s are tied together , QL 1 has a printer
and QL 2 is equipped with 2 diskdrives » à memory extension
board as well as a MODEM to connect to outside sources of
INFORMATION . Each will ENTER " FSERVE ° - The first machine
which had been having problems with his microdrives ENTER s as
well * NFS_USE mdv, ni_fipi_, ni_f1p2_ ” . This means that in
the future when it will ENTER or that a Program will be looking
for * mdvi_ * the machine will interpret this to mean * flpi_ °*
of the other machine. The same applies also for " mdvw2_ *.

Therefore QL 1 will Operating as if the diskdrives of QL 2 are

his diskdrives will be able to get DIRectory etc. and the QL 2
will also have access to the printer of QL 1 with the command °
COPY flpl_texte_doc to ni_seri °.

You can even have fun by displaying on QL-1 the clock from

SINC-LINK JAN- fe 70

MOT TS wpe bed ee ew anne

QL
Rev

QL GENE,
a progra
prepare s

It is “One
operating
for the (
Although
it loads i

In the C
several c
colors to
Also, sev
settings í
the progr

The prog
When a

initial me
beside th
selections

A menu f
is the o
keys an:
enter the
the capit:

Sevea_)
generated

screen ol
copy rece
option so

An added
file of th
William I
present €

In compa
features

provided,
another í
computer
QL GENEA

I have
Car michae
least as
to get th
a geneal
computer:
hands d
Arch

very slo
much mol

»sed a rate
: $15.00 for
er the cost
ud be sent
“ment on

brary disks
id Kingsly.
opying and
‘per disk is
a disk or

as set as

rt thereof,
be free to

own copy.

visitor and
ibed a Data
doard he is
ry use at

is fabulous,
SPEED and
‘ate musical
characters.

3,00 was

ase of IFE

was not

əst meeting
:hm's. Will
duction to
ogramming.
epeating in
tials. Only

including
vely fiance
d cupcakes,
y attentive,
made major
derstanding
y code is

like Jonas,
ary pro tem

Qi~-2, ana at “he same time QL-2 will display the clock. from
i a 1

cren #3.ni_coniclock #3
ana on “L-2 :
open #3,nl_con:clock #3

Ang that is it !!! If there is a clash , what happens ?
The communication 13 suspended , the software for NETWORK keeps
on trying and then everything stops with the message "° network
aborted "...and then sometimes its starts all by itself !!!

Ano now for a few comments .

You can load and run on your own machine some programs
placed on the peripherals of the other machine: e.g. LRUN
NI_FLP1_BO0T . As well EXEC_W N1_FLP1_QUILL works quite well.

You can command transfer of a Peripheral of the second
machine to another peripheral : ;
g.a. COPY N1_FLP1_FSILE_LIS to N1_SER1

A macnine which forms part of a network of many QL's allous
the circuit to function even though it is not on.

So that QUILL and other PSIONS programs can identify the
Peripherals on the network you must proceed as follows !

to perform certain functions with the network, such as LOAD
N1_FLP1_document_doc (" not found °), NFS LUSE must firsr be
entered with a different instruction of MDV on N1_FLP1_ . e. g.
NFS LUSE mdv+n1_flp1i_,n1_flpz2_ . You will then ENTER

FILOAD-mawvi_document_doc , and QUILL will be fooled and will
get the document on N1_FLP1_ .
to print directly on NIi_SER1i for example, you must
reconrigured QUILL or other programs , using for the peripheral
neither the PAR y, nor the SER , but the " NON STANDARD PRINTER
DRIVER *. You must then ENTER “ N1_SER1 ” instead of PAR. To
Print . the command will be FI3>print>whole>to printer".

The majority of other programs " THE EDITOR , FLASHEACK
PAGE DESIGNER..." identify directly the commands of the
network.

FSERVE usually has a higher priority , and would normally
slow down your activities, You can still get the better by
giving it a lower priority say : 1.

All in all , the network arrangement works quite well ’
although not as fast as ETHERNET ( 10 words/sec. ) but it
should be good enough for every day usage.

NESQLUG NEWS -8- May/June 1991

WRITING AN ARTICLE
by Peter Hale

Everyone likes to read newsletters
and magazines about the QL. But
before a newsletter/magazine exists
there must be 1) articles and 2) an
editor. (That's me!)

A recent survey revealed that:
editing a Sinclair Newsletter was the
leading cause of ulcers, baldness,
and short tempers in nine out of
ten respondents.

First, editors take their work
seriously - pride of workmanship,
footnote to history, honor - all the
sorts of things that drive otherwise
sensible people to volunteer.

Second, articles rarely are forth-
coming without a certain amount of
arm-twisting. [NESQLUG is an excep-
tion - without voluntary contribu-
tions, this newsletter would only list
the time/date of the next meeting.]

Third, under the best of circum-
stances whipping an article into
shape can be tedious if a contribu-
tor doesn't take a minute to format
an article or check spelling. It's
even tougher when an article comes
on just hard-copy or just media.

NESQLUG NEWS is produced from a
text87 file. It is normally set to
print out in a double column.

There are reasonable exceptions as
when a wide table is part of an
article, but for the most part it
Means that you can expect that an
article's margins will be changed.

Thus the editor likes submissions on
either a Quill_doc or text87_T87 file.
He can tolerate straight ASCII files.
He also likes (read needs) a hard-
copy printout so he can see how
you think the article should look.

It is also a lot easier to read
through hard-copy straight from an
envelope and make proof notes than
to wait until powering up the
computer to see what's there.

The editor has a few preconceptions

NESQLUG NEWS -9-

about how punctuation is used. He
thinks that a period at the end of a
sentence should be followed by two
spaces and that there is no need
for apostrophe's in plural's.

If you must make a submission that
is not easily transferable from disk/
micro-cartridge, PLEASE pay
attention to what follows:

1. The newsletter is photoreduced.
We shrink the original to 78% so
that two pages fit side by side on
one sheet of 8.5" x 11”.

2. However, half of an 8.5" x 11”
sheet is not in the same proportion
as the whole. It is 5.5" x 8.5".
With 78% reduction, the 11" fits
fine, but the 8.5" is too wide.

3. THEREFORE PLEASE, if you can
only submit hard-copy, format it
right-justified, so that either:

A. The text body is 3" x 10" per
page (for pasting together as two
columns and leaving room for
margins and footers), or

B. The text body is 6.4” x 10".

Also, please print out in NLQ or LQ.
Photocopiers can do wonders in
improving contrast, but there are
limitations if the hard copy is in
draft mode with an old ribbon.

(This also applies to submissions to
any of the newsletters I know
about, including UPDATE COMPUTER
SYSTEMS, which reproduces 1:1.)

There! I've got it off my chest.

FROM CATS Dec 1990
COMPUTER STORY by Tim Swenson
We had a computer that kept
crashing. Every time service was
called, it worked fine. It turned
out that one of the users would
come in, sit at the console and put
his papers and stuff on the top
covering the cooling vents. When it
crashed, he picked up his stuff and
left, removing the evidence.
Service didn't figure it out until
they finaly decided to watch him
work to see why it crashed.

May/June 1991

<
Editor’ No
Next Meet:
Meeting M
From ^ t
Direct___s
QL Geneal
NESQLIBr:
More on 1
Remote Co
Zip Code |
Networkin
Writing ar
Membershi

Your men
issue.
won't mis

Regular
America i:
runs from

Students
(AIRMAIL)

Send 2c
Shermra
Yarmouth

Membershi
benefits «
including

newsletter
NESQLUG |

[Volume I
able for $i

MEET

The New |
met at the
Boehm on

Al Boehm
graphics «
Center fc
(NCAR) ad
program 1
data to dr
any ¢ sii
longituwe.
tion to 10

- ra

Curr 1 NEW ENGLAND Larry ANDERSON Roy ARSENAULT ~
! SINCLAIR QL USERS 6203 Western Ave. Beaver Meadow Rd.
SUMMARY of Davenport, IA 52806 Haddam, CT 06438
i Members (319) 391-7902(w) (203) 345-8384 (W)
_ ! Michael BERLIN John C. BERRY Joyce BLAHO
n” ! P.O. Box 68 34 Keely St. 971 Fellsway
IS Berlin, NH 03770 Haverhill, MA 01830 Medford, MA 02155
1e Journal (603) 469-3243 (W) (w) 617-391-7931 (W)
ir QL User Al BOEHM Ted BOEHM Donald BURNS
-monthly. 33 Selfridge Rd. HHC 135th AR 155 High St.
Bedford, MA 01730 APO New York, NY 09066 s. Portland, ME 04106
0.00 (stu- 617)275-1097(W)377-5955 (207) 799-9556 (w)
Tica, The
air mail. William CABLE Harvey CHAMBERLAIN Douglas F. DEWEY
RR 3, Box 92 172 Front St. 206 James St.
first Sat- Cornish, NH 03745 Marblehead, MA 01945 Carrotoro, NC 27510
ionths and (603) 675-2218 (W) (W) (919) 929-3079 (w)
numbered Robert GILDER Harry E. HAFF Peter R. HALE
” weekend, 69 Jefferson Pl. 78 Vaughn St. 195 Central Ave.
kend. Massapequa, NY 11758 Lakeville, MA 02347 Chelsea, MA 02150
(516)541-2271(W) (508) 947-2578 (617) 889-0830 (w)
NGS Alan J. HODGE Willard HORTON Hugh H. HOWIE
3843 Mt. Blackburn Av. 234 Mauran Ave, 586 Oneida Dr.
1:00am to San Diego, CA 92111 E. Providence, RI 02914 Burlington, ONT LIT 3V3
4, at the (619) 576-4476 (W) (401)438-0929 (W) (416) 634-4929 (w)
Boehm, 33 Michael JONAS Ben KAHLER Edwin L. KINGSLEY
MA. Call 1691 Cambridge St. #21 P.O. Box 171 16 Highland Ave.
ons. Come Cambridge, MA 02138 Fenton, IA 50539-0171 Saugus, MA 01906
d set up. (617) 876-7251 (W)491-3474 (617) 233-3671 (wW)
Opm. to “ Lois LEWIS Parker LEWIS, III Robert W. MALLOY
at Al 28409 Avion Cir. 95 Waite Ave. 412 Pacifica St.
) Castaic, CA 91384 Cranston, RI 02905 Massapequa Pk, NY 11762
(W) (401)461-9508 (W) (w)
ll be Sat- J .
ohn MITCHELL Mike MITCHELL Gary NORTON
of the 4th 35 Mayfair Dr. 474 Salem St. 43 Richardson St.
Westwood, MA 02090 Lynnfield, MA 01940 Billerica, MA 01821
(617) 326-5420 (W) (617)599-3767(W)290-0992 (508) 667-2048 (w)
mple: we- Kevin O'LEARY Stephen OSTRANDER Mike PADLIPSKY
-us-yours P.O. Box 68 16 Pine Echo Dr. 8011 Stewart Ave.
1 have Meriden, NH 03770 Poughkeepsie, NY 12601 Los Angeles, CA 90045
QL. (603) 469-3243 (w) (914) 473-2499 (213)670-4288 (W)
is Frederick ROMER Norman SHEIN Richard TAYLOR
sues to 31 Fowler St. 15 Allen St. 309 Holly Cir.
'wler Ste Jamestown, RI 02835 Newton, MA 02168 Tiverton, RI 02878
(401) 423-2688 . (617) 964-0637 (w) (401) 624-2035 (W)
ie author, Sherman WATERMAN Robert E. WELBURN, Jr. Jerome WETMORE
he public 40 Eileen St. 2901 Scanlan Ave. 560A Commercial St.
uested. Yarmouth Pt, MA 02675 Lake Worth, FL 33461 Provincetown, MA 02657
_ (508) 362-5322 (w) (W) (508) 487-0627 (W)
phone l
17) 275-1097 .Ernest WIDER John M. WLOCH
38) 362-5322 P.O. Box 171 38-B Forest Acres Dr.
pan . Dover, MA 02030 Haverhill, MA 01835
133-3671 508)785-1880(W)617)743-6836 (508) 372-5252 (W)
:7) 889-0830

2:) 423-2688

NESQLUG NEWS - 10 - May/June 1991

REMOTE CONTROL Cont from p. 6
On the input sidé, there will be
eight (8) infrared sensors with
independently adjustable sensitivity
and eight to sixteen (8 to 16)
buffered digital input connectors.

The output side will have eight to
sixteen buffered digital connectors.
Eight will have 150 to 200 watt
Mosfets (powered transistors) to
switch larger currents.

There will be an independent
onboard timer for real time
grabbing of data and control of
output.

The unit can be permanently install-
ed but will be fully transparent to
the QL until activated.

It will include a software toolkit on
media that will permit development
of applications without need for
sophisticated programming skills.

It is anticipated that the board will
be available both in kit form and as
a fully assembled unit to be
manufactured by XIPH (pronounced
'zife') by the end of this year.
Present indications are that the kit
will retail for under $100.00.

For further information, contact
EMSoft, P.O. Box 8763, Boston,
MA 02114 U.S.A. (1-617) 889-0830.

FROM CATS Dec 1990
COMPUTER STORY by Tim Swenson

Years ago while working on a large
Amdahl 470/6 running DOS and MVS
under VM, the system crashed, but
returned a system error code nnnn.

code in the
an Amdahl

On looking up the
system manual (not
manual) it said:

A SYSTEM ERROR HAS OCCURRED

WHICH WAS PREVIOUSLY THOUGHT
TO BE IMPOSSIBLE.

NESQLUG NEWS

- 11 -

QL GENEALOGIST Cont from p. 4

2. Another complaint is that if you
inadvertently try to load a file and
type fip1_ instead of flp2_, instead
of letting you escape from that, it
knocks you out of the program and
you must reload. 1f you have been
updating the database, and haven't
saved it at this point, then all tha
was updated will be lost. :

3. Hardcopies of some reports are
very paper intensive. In printing
out the Pedigree and Tree reports
of the Royal Family, there were
many pages of wasted paper. [Is
this a function of A4 vs. 8 1/2" by
11"? Ed.) i

Unfortunately for some, the ful-
blown QL GENEALOGIST requires
disk drives and at least 256K
memory. For those with unexpanded
QLs, there is a microdrive version
to use with only 128K memory. It
offers the same multi-menu screen,
but is limited in scope. In order to
fit into memory, several of the
features had to be eliminated.

For example, there is only one type
of report, the Family Tree. The
Research section was eliminated, as
was the Notes section. The Export
mode is retained.

However, it is still a very useful
and easy-to-use program for anyone
with an unexpanded QL who is
interested in mapping out a family
history.

QL GENEALOGIST is certainly an
outstanding program. I cannot begin
to give sufficient accolades to Chris
for his effort. If one is contem-
plating the task of preparing their
family history, they will be very
well served by this program. Until
now, no program available for the
QL fit the need. Now, thanks to Mr.
Boutal, anyone would be hard-
pressed to come up with a program
for any computer that does a better
job than this one.

[Q GENEALOGIST is available in North America

FOR $40.95 ppd from EMSoft, P.O. Box 8763,
Boston, MA 02114 (1-617) 889-0830.)

May/June 1991

Mu’
No
QA
ZOD
4 0
WM Ln
OHOR
a4 *
Haus
or
3 Aro
RO a
ZWD ve